"I think it's been mentioned it was a bit of a shock. It's like, 'That's not the way we go about our footy, what's just happened?'

"Just having a look at a bit of the game on the plane on the way home and there were a few efforts there where you go, 'That's just not us'."

If defence was an issue, contested ball was a disaster. Essendon was poleaxed 156-116.

The -40 differential was the worst in John Worsfold's reign as Bombers coach and the sixth-worst ever recorded at Essendon since the stat started being recorded 20 years ago - a period of more than 400 games.